Bashar al-Assad militia kills 3 families in Syria's Homs: Group

Militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shot dead on Wednesday at least 20 civilians when they stormed the homes of three unarmed families on the edges of opposition districts in the city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The shabbiha (Assad's militiamen) broke into three houses overnight and slaughtered a family of five - the father, wife and their three children, a family of seven in another house and a eight in a third," dissident in exile Rami Abdelrahman, who heads the British-based Observatory, told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities and the report could not be verified because the authorities have placed tight restrictions on access to the country.